English Vocabulary Acquisition by Chinese Learners.docx

1、English Vocabulary Acquisition by Chinese LearnersThe Chinese Vocabulary Acquisition of SLAAbstractKeywords1. Introduction Introduction of the thesis Reviews of the topic2. The status of problems existed in vocabulary acquisition Mechanical memorization Mixed styles Small quantity of vocabulary inpu

2、t3. The difference of vocabulary acquisition between L1 and L2 The average age of learners The quantities of language inputs The language environment and acquisition ways4. L1 transfer on L2 vocabulary acquisitionChinese transfer on English vocabulary acquisition The positive transfer of L1 The nega

3、tive transfer of L15. The strategies of vocabulary acquisition Reading and vocabulary learning Contexts and vocabulary learning Dictionaries and vocabulary learning6. ConclusionReferencesEnglish Vocabulary Acquisition by Chinese LearnersZeng Shaoman Adviser: Hu MingliangAbstract：Vocabulary acquisiti

4、on is an eternal cognitive process. Since Second Language Acquisition is different from ones mother tongue acquisition, there are also various differences between vocabulary acquisition of L1 and of his second language. The problem of how to deal with vocabulary in foreign language teaching has beco

5、me more and more obvious. Moreover, as Chinese is our first language, there must be many typical characteristics of our L2 vocabulary acquisition compared with that of L1. This paper is going to discuss several problems existing in our Chinese learners in L2 vocabulary learning, focus on the interac

6、tion of L1 and L2, including differences and transfer, and propose three effective strategies on vocabulary learning for Chinese learners.Key Words：Vocabulary acquisition, Difference, Transfer, Vocabulary Learning StrategiesI. Introduction: What is Vocabulary Acquisition? Vocabulary is one of the ma

7、in hindrances of most L2 learners. The reason is that denotative meaning had been emphasized too much in traditional teaching, through contrast and translation, while other aspects, such as connotative meaning and word collocation had long been neglected for decades (Hedge, 2002). In spite of this,

8、recent years have seen a greater awareness of vocabulary learning by researchers, material designers, and teachers. Vocabulary is no longer a victim of discrimination in second language learning research, nor in language teaching. After decades of neglect, words are now recognized as central to any

9、language acquisition process, native or non-native. What is vocabulary acquisition? Does learning a word mean you have recognized how it is formed and grasped its basic meaning? Most Chinese L2 learners have been puzzled by such questions for years. Most researches on SLA are done from the view of m

10、orphology and grammar, while few are from vocabulary (Cook, 2000). So, it is very important for our L2 learners to make clear the connotative significance of vocabulary acquisition. Clearly, knowing the word is one thing, but how that knowledge is acquired is another. In learning their first languag

11、e, the first words that children learn are typically those used for labeling, that is, mapping words on to concepts (Cook, 2000), so that the concept, e.g., of dog has a name, dog, or doggie in English, and 狗 in Chinese. But do dog and 狗 indicate the same thing? Are all four-legged animals dogs? Som

12、e may be cats. So, the child then has to learn how far to extend the concept of dog, so as not to include cats, but to include other peoples dogs, toy dogs, and even pictures of dogs. In other words, acquiring a vocabulary requires not only labeling but categorizing skills.Finally, the child needs t

13、o realize that common words like apple and dog can be replaced by superordinate terms like fruit and animal. And that animal can accommodate other lower order words such as cat, horse and elephant. This involves a process of network building - constructing a complex web of words (Schmitt and McCarth

14、y, 2002), so that, items like black and white, or fingers and toes, or family and brother are interconnected. Network building serves to link all the labels and packages, and lays the groundwork for a process that continues for as long as we are exposed to new words (and new meanings for old words),

15、 that is, for the rest of our lives. Reviews of the TopicThe research of vocabulary acquisition began in the 1980s, which attracts more and more attention throughout the world as years go by. By far, the system of vocabulary acquisition has become even more mature than ever before. In recent ten yea

16、rs, the research and investigations in our own country increase in a steady way. Gu (1994) took research in the vocabulary learning strategies of 850 non-English-major students in Beijing Normal University by using questionnaires. Also, he generally depicted their memorization strategies. Wang (1998

17、), who investigated 50 undergraduate students in Nanjing University, made a more comprehensive research in the vocabulary learning strategies, especially memorization strategies. Even in our own college, Prof. Liu (2002) proposed a report on word-guessing strategies after the experiment of 50 studen

18、ts in Guangdong Foreign Language University. All these mentioned above showed us the relations between vocabulary learning strategies, or we may say the acquisition ways and the result of vocabulary learning.For our students, it must greatly help our Chinese in L2 learning if we find out the feature

19、s of L2 vocabulary acquisition. II. Problems Existing in Vocabulary Acquisition2.1 Mechanical MemorizationIn the normal acquisition process, most students are in favor of “mechanical memorization” according to my own experience and the research which has been done. The strategies of mechanical memor

20、ization include re-reading, re-spelling and reading while writing. Such phenomenon is caused not only by the effect of the theories and practices of Chinese traditional language-learning, but also by the backward conditions of learning English, such as the limited number of English reading materials

21、 for most of the students. 2.2 Misused StylesAs most of what is read is in written form, it is difficult for students to well grasp the difference of vocabulary styles and the relationship between language forms and context features. As a result of this, it is common to find misused styles in vocabu

22、lary application. For example, informal styles may be used in a formal situation. In an application letter, you may find such a sentence: I am sending you this letter because I want you to meet with me and give me some info about the job you do. Obviously, it is not suitable to write this sentence i

23、n such a formal situation like an application letter, as the words want and info are oral ones. Thus, it should be written like this: I am writing to inquire about the possibility of an interview. One of these reasons of style mixing is that, when teaching a word, it is seldom for the teacher to ill

24、ustrate the cultural background and the pragmatic principles of the word. Students find it hard to understand and use the language exactly. Language has rich and abundant connotation. Although we will find a word in accordance with what the author intends to express, students may not be able to gras

25、p the semantic meaning and the authors idea, due to the connotative difference caused by different social and cultural background and different thinking ways.2.3 Small Quantity of Vocabulary InputIt may not be difficult to find out in research that, vocabulary learning to a great extent will improve

26、 ones English. Many scholars consider that the difficulties in writing are caused by the insufficiency of vocabulary accumulation. However, the time for teaching a target language in class is too limited. For example, the vocabulary teaching in intensive-reading class is confined to the time, only i

27、ncluding the teachers “short and intensive” instruction and the students vocabulary exercise after class. It is clear to see that vocabulary input in class teaching is in a limited amount. III. The Relations of Vocabulary Acquisition Between L1 and L2 DifferencesIn what ways is the development of a

28、second language lexicon any different from that of the first language? Perhaps the most obvious difference is the fact that, by definition, second language learners already have a first language. And not only do they have the conceptual system that these words encode, but they also learned the compl

29、ex network of associations that link these words one with another. Learning a second language involves both learning a new conceptual system, and constructing a new vocabulary network - a second mental lexicon (Schmitt and McCarthy, 2002). However, there is a downside to having a ready-made conceptu

30、al system with its associated lexicon. Faced with learning a new word, the second language learner is likely to short-cut the process of constructing a network of associations and simply map the word directly onto the mother tongue equivalent. Thus, if a Chinese-speaking learner learns the English w

31、ord taxi, rather than creating a direct link from taxi to the concept of “taxi”, he is more likely to create a link to his L1 equivalent 的士. The L1 word acts as a stepping stone to the target concept.The differences include several aspects: Firstly, the learners of L1 differ from those of L2. As for

32、 ones mother tongue, the learners are children, who cannot understand the vocabulary because of their intelligence and limited abilities. In the procedure of acquiring vocabulary, there seem to be few possibilities for them to process and categorize the input materials in their mind. Thus, the way of their acquisition is simply “natural acquisition” (Thornbury, 2003). The lexicon materials are stored in their brain as word forms. But most L2 learners are grown-ups, whose cognition abilities are quite complete and are able to analyze and summarize what they learn a